The 2013 Boulder County Fair will return to a 10-day schedule and will once again include a rodeo.

This year’s fair will run from Aug. 2 to 11, reverting to a longer run after scaling back to five days in 2010.

Fair coordinator Laura Boldt said the decision was made after last year’s exhibitors expressed concerns that the five-day schedule was too short and events were crammed together.

Among the other new attractions this year is a beer festival, farm-to-table dinners and a BMX bicycle and skateboard competition.

“We’re hoping that we’re appealing to a broader range of the county,” Boldt said.

Even with fewer days, about 91,000 people attended last year’s fair, a 21 percent increase from the 80,000 who showed up for the 2011 event.

Boldt anticipates about 120,000 attendees this year.

The rodeo is also back by popular demand. The Colorado Pro Rodeo Association will present nine events.

“I am really excited about having the Colorado Pro Rodeo Association in Longmont, probably as excited as they are to be here. They jumped at the chance to bring a rodeo back to Boulder County, and I’m looking forward to it,” said fair board president Jerry Slepicka.

The Colorado Senior Pro Charity Rodeo Association, formerly called the Longmont Old Timers’ Rodeo Association, hasn’t been part of the Boulder County Fair since 2010. The rodeo has since relocated to Estes Park’s Fairgrounds at Stanley Park.

Boldt said this year’s fair, with its extended days, will likely cost about $350,000 (that doesn’t include money from livestock sales, which go back to participants). That’s up from $250,000 for last year’s event. That covers security, operations, equipment rentals, insurance, labor and advertising. The fair is a nonprofit and typically breaks even, Boldt said.

The Boulder County Commissioners approved $65,000 for last year’s fair, and Boldt said fair organizers don’t expect to ask for additional funding from the county. Instead, they are hoping to make up the difference with more sponsorships and grants.

Also, vendors’ fees have increased about 20 percent, and Boldt said organizers are planning to try new marketing strategies.

Colorado energy regulators on Monday proposed tighter rules for shutting down oil and gas pipelines after a fatal explosion blamed on natural gas leaking from a line that was thought to be out of service but was still connected to a well.